SketchUp
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 7 3D modeling software by recommenders
Recommended as an intuitive 3D modeling tool with little learning curve. Common caveat: the free version is limited.
Recommended as an intuitive 3D modeling tool with little learning curve. Common caveat: the free version is limited.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Intuitive with little learning curve
“Sketchup was so intuitive (as a 3D modelling noob) it was ridiculous.”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: My family business runs on a 1993-era text-based-UI (TUI). Anybody else?” “They made a 3d drawing application without a learning curve”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: My family business runs on a 1993-era text-based-UI (TUI). Anybody else?” “a 3D drawing application without a learning curve”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “HTML Slides with notes” - Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “3D printing my laptop ergonomic setup”
Useful for home and woodworking projects
“It was very successful in reducing the number of walls my wife wanted to move around after they had been finished”
Comment from 30 Jul 2026 in “The coolest use for the Vision Pro” “IIRC that version made it really easy to design things with dimensional lumber.”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: My family business runs on a 1993-era text-based-UI (TUI). Anybody else?” Works with Claude AI integration
“had good results getting a cut list and build steps with pictures from Claude and the Sketchup integration”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: CAD for wood working with LLM support?” “Astra does such a good work with SketchUp 2026 and computer use”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Cartesian – AI 3D Modeling for Design”
Other 3D modeling software people recommend
The four most recommended other 3D modeling software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blender | 298 | 81 | 79% | 12 | 15 yrs10 owners | Approved |
| Autodesk Maya | 18 | 8 | 69% | 7 | — | Approved |
| SketchUpThis page | 16 | 6 | 73% | 8 | — | Approved |
| SideFX Houdini | 14 | 3 | 82% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Microsoft 3D Movie Maker | 6 | 1 | 86% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“had good results getting a cut list and build steps with pictures from Claude and the Sketchup integration”
“For me it's way better than SketchUp”
“Astra does such a good work with SketchUp 2026 and computer use”
“it forces you to work with primitives that are different from your real world ones”
“Got everything one needs for a single-person setup.”
“It was very successful in reducing the number of walls my wife wanted to move around after they had been finished”
“SketchUp's "grab face + extrude / push"”
“Sketchup is adequate at the free level and not good enough to convince me to upgrade to paid.”
“something like sketchup make that isn't stuck in 2017”
“Same budy runs VSCode and Sketchup (big project) offline as day 1.”
“things like SketchUp became popular because they weren't as powerful necessarily, but were very welcoming”
“I had to fix holes and overlapping geometry by editing the .STL files in Blender”
“they have some kind of memory leak/bug at least for the 2017 version”
“SketchUp always felt very intuitive to me”
“It's not to my tastes but it is quite powerful”
“Sketchup is truly enshittified”
“a 3D drawing application without a learning curve”
“They made a 3d drawing application without a learning curve”
“Loved using Google Sketchup back in the day!”
“IIRC that version made it really easy to design things with dimensional lumber.”
“i never really made friends with sketchup”
“Sketchup was so intuitive (as a 3D modelling noob) it was ridiculous.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.